Nathan Chen, US lead team figure skating at Beijing Olympics

BEIJING  — It was alleged to be a foregone conclusion that Russia’s highly effective steady of determine skaters, together with world champions in three of the 4 disciplines, would run away the workforce gold medal on the Beijing Olympics.

Nathan Chen and the remainder of the People will need to have taken exception.

The three-time world champ’s successful quick program set the tone for Workforce USA on Friday, and everybody else adopted swimsuit. Madison Hubbell and Zachary Donohue gained the rhythm dance with a season-best rating, and Alexa Knierim and Brandon Frazier capped the primary of three days of workforce competitors with a personal-best quick program.

That left the People with 28 factors, two head of the Russians and 7 forward of third-place China.

“We will stroll away with a medal for certain. What shade? It’s exhausting to say,” Chen mentioned. “However I think about my teammates, and I do know they’re going to do the perfect they’ll do.”

In reality, the one self-discipline they didn’t win was pairs. Knierim and Frazier had been third behind China’s Sui Wenjing and Han Cong, who set a world report with their quick program, and Russians Anastasia Mishina and Aleksandr Galliamov.

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“I’m so happy with us,” mentioned Knierim, who helped the U.S. win workforce bronze 4 years in the past in Pyeongchang. “I imply, there was quite a lot of push-down stress inside us. We simply tried to disregard it, and we simply rose to the event.”

There’s nonetheless loads of work to do for the People to climb the rostrum this time round.

The workforce occasion takes a break Saturday earlier than the ladies’s quick program Sunday, the place the Russians will once more be the favorites. After that, the top-five scoring nations advance to the free skates, with the medals determined Monday night time.

Chen struggled to a fourth-place end along with his quick program within the workforce occasion in Pyeongchang, and the dismal begin to his Olympic debut 4 years in the past carried proper into the boys’s occasion. His quick program there was so strewn with errors that not even his sensible free skate might land him on the rostrum.

Maybe his flawless begin in Beijing will ship him within the different course.

Performing to music from the Puccini opera “La Bohème,” Chen opened with a large quad toe loop and landed the triple axel that always provides him issues. By the point he landed his quad salchow-triple toe loop mixture, his technical mark was to this point forward of the sphere that first place was nearly assured.

Chen obtained 111.71 factors, a mark that may have gained the boys’s quick program in Pyeongchang, and one which put him effectively away from reigning Olympic silver medalist Shoma Uno of Japan on Friday.

“Even when somebody doesn’t have the perfect skate, now we have an extremely sturdy workforce to again us all up,” Chen mentioned. “That’s actually the case this time round. I’m blissful I did my half and skated nearly as good as I can.”

Oh, did he ever have somebody backing him up.

After a disappointing displaying of their quick program at nationals, Hubbell and Donohue had been completely in sync for the People on skating’s greatest stage, scoring a season-best 86.56 factors for his or her Janet Jackson medley.

“It’s at all times higher to present a fantastic efficiency and to depart that impression with the judges,” Hubbell mentioned, “however we additionally know that all the things relies on the way you carry out every day and every time you step on the ice.”

World champions Victoria Sinitsina and Nikita Katsalapov had been the final ice dance duo to skate, however their program started to go awry throughout their twizzles. It briefly fell aside when Katsalapov stumbled throughout their midline step sequence, a mistake that left them in second place with 86.06 factors.

“We’re very assured,” Katsalapov insisted afterward, “as a result of now we have the strongest workforce.”

Maybe. However not on Friday.

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Knierim and Frazier punctuated a giant day for the People. From their opening triple twist elevate to their usually troublesome triple toe loop, they made all the things look simple simply weeks after Frazier’s constructive COVID-19 check pressured them to withdraw from nationals.

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In the meantime, Germany and Ukraine had their probabilities of advancing dashed earlier than they even stepped on the ice.

Nolan Seegert examined constructive upon his arrival in Beijing, forcing him and pairs associate Minerva Fabienne Hase to withdraw from the workforce occasion. Ukrainian skater Ivan Shmuratko additionally examined constructive and needed to withdraw.

The 2 nations didn’t have a backup for his or her disciplines, so that they obtained no factors within the workforce occasion.

“Nolan is to this point symptom-free,” mentioned Hase, who was launched from quarantine after testing damaging. “After all it was a shock for me as effectively. We had been cautious. I battle a bit proper now. I’ll attempt to get again on monitor within the subsequent days.”